A nice beer in the Old Town.

I am not a regular visitor to the Old Town pubs these days but with friends decided to take advantage of a sunny evening and ventured down last night. We arrived at The Mayflower at about 8pm. It is a nice pub with a good selection of beer but I was surprised when at about 9.20 when ordering refills the lady behind the bar said that they would be shutting in 5 minutes and usually shut at 9pm on Wednesday evenings. Admittedly there were only a couple of tables occupied by this time and she looked around, shrugged and said the reason was obvious. My response along the lines of “Are there not many people because you close so early, or do you close so early because there are so few people?” elicited no verbal response but a look which suggested that she probably thought it was a good thing as I had clearly drunk more than enough already! We squeezed one more pint in and then decamped to the Smack. I still have fond memories of the Smack from my years in the 6th form at Westcliff High when on friday nights it turned into our alternative 6th form common room. I am not completely convinced that the layout is better now than it was back then but at least it was open with a few more punters around. Ignoring the chronic state of the gentleman’s toilet we set up on the balcony area overlooking the estuary however at 9.45pm were told that the area was shutting and we need to decamp inside. Once again the beer was good and the staff pleasant but I am not sure that either pub will draw me back on the next hot summer evening. Perhaps the Peter Boat or Billet next time!